Enterprise network management systems are used to monitor and control enterprise network operations. For example, enterprise network management systems have been developed for device fault monitoring (such as the NerveCenter™ system available from Veritas Software of Mountain View, Calif.), performance monitoring (such as the Network Health system available from Concord Communications, Inc. of Marlboro, Massachusetts), trouble ticket and help desk functionality (such as the Remedy Help Desk™ system available from Remedy Corporation of Mountain View, Calif.), event management (such as the NetCool™ system available from Micromuse, Inc. of San Francisco, Calif.), device discovery (such as the OpenView™ system available from Hewlett Packard of Palo Alto, Calif.), configuration management (such as the CiscoWorks 2000™ system available from Cisco Systems, Inc. of San Jose, Calif.), standard operating procedures control, and other network management functionality. These various network management systems allow the systems and hardware components that make up an enterprise network to be monitored and managed by one or more users that may be physically dispersed, organizationally dispersed, or otherwise unable to coordinate activities in a central location.
One drawback with such enterprise network management systems is that an operator must continuously monitor many of these tools. For example, a network management operator may need to review a device performance monitoring system and an event management system to determine whether an operating event has occurred, such as a system malfunction, a system error, a device misoperation, or any other condition that requires operator attention. However, in order to continuously monitor these two different systems, the operator must either have two terminals that are set up to each system, or must remember multiple sets of logon data and continuously toggle between multiple windows in order to perform a status update. Thus, the operator must engage in repetitive tasks to continuously monitor these systems. Furthermore, some operators must manage multiple networks, which requires them to perform these tasks for each network. Because these systems are typically produced by different organizations, they are often incompatible, such that they cannot be readily integrated without custom work.
Another drawback with such enterprise network management systems is that an operator must receive extensive training in order to use each of the large number of systems. If an alarm, network, or system event occurs (hereinafter an “operating event”), it may be necessary for the operators to access the report generation tools, device discovery tools, configuration management tools, standard operating procedures control tools, trouble ticket or help desk tools, or other suitable tools. Some operating events may require accessing two or more tools in a certain order in order to resolve the problem. Thus, in order to address all possible operating events that can occur on a network, an operator must have training in each of these tools, in addition to training on how to respond to such operating events.
Another drawback with such enterprise network management systems occurs where multiple networks are being managed, such as by a Management Service Provider (“MSP”). A customer of one of the managed networks might desire access to one or more of the management systems, such as to determine the status of the customer's network or to perform a function, but providing such access might also allow the customer to access any of the other managed networks. Additionally, due to common firewall constraints, a customer is only able to access one application per firewall port. Thus, allowing access to multiple applications would require the managed services provider to open multiple firewall ports to a single user, which creates a security risk.
Access through a proxy server in the screened subnet or other such “DMZ” of the MSP can be provided to allow an external customer to access multiple applications through a single port. However, the customer's web browser must be specially configured in order to allow such access. Furthermore, only limited services are available in this configuration, which prevents the operators of such managed networks from being able to perform many important tasks.
Thus, while network management tools are known and provide useful assistance to skilled operators, such network management tools are often incompatible and are of limited use to an untrained operator.